Our Travel Journal: Inverness, Urquhart Castle

It was hard to say goodbye to this picture perfect Bed and Breakfast. But we know, as we move on, each stop will leave us with some reason that we don't want to leave.

This approximately (excluding a few side trips) our travels to date.

Today we traveled to Inverness

The drive was pleasant, the views were beautiful, but once we crossed the Skye Bridge to the mainland the roads and landscapes were not quite so unique as they were on the Isle of Skye. I'm pretty used to an intermittent weather pattern of rolling mists, pouring rain, and brilliant sunshine. We enjoyed all of those weather conditions today in one stop. Our first stop was at the Eileen Donan Castle. Donan was a fifth century catholic bishop who first established a community on the island. The community eventually became a fort. Eilleen = Island, so this is the castle on Donan's island. It sits at the confluence of Loch Duich and Loch Alsh. The castle was at its pinnacle in the 13th century and was restored from ruins in the 1900s.

Along the way we came across a marker indicating the death sites of Roderick MacKenzie. His interesting story is that he was helping Bonnie Prince Charlie flee after the disaster at Culloden. When encountered by some Scots acting on the hope of capturing the prince and thus the £30,000 reward, Roderick fought to the death. Upon dying he said "you have killed your prince". The men thinking he was the prince took Roderick's head to Edinburgh, allowing the real prince to continue his escape.

Sandy and I joined "Historical Scotland" several months ago (online application). This is an organization that is dedicated to preserving hundreds of historically significant sites in Scotland. As members we are allowed to visit any of the sites without charge. That, along with free parking at the sites have already covered the cost of membership for us. We will be using our membership card many more times over the next two weeks. It really is a substantial savings. Also, while in Northern Ireland we will be able to enjoy their "Historical England" sights for half price.

Today we used our membership to view the Urquhart (Er-cart) Castle. Best known in the United States as the castle in the background of many photos of the "Loch Ness Monster", the castle stands on it own as a destination. It is a preserved ruin, named for a Pict Chieftain who's deathbed conversion to Christianity around 580AD, assured that his name would be attached to this glen and this castle. The first stone castle on the site was built around 1270AD by a Scots nobleman, changed hands with the British a number of times and was finally abandoned in around 1640AD.

Driving on to Inverness we found our AirBnB. A two story apartment centrally located just off the river and with a view of Inverness Castle. Hungry and thirsty we went to the neighborhood pub, the "Waterfront". Sandy, on a quest for interesting hard ciders tried a new one. She liked it, I had a sip also, but while in Scotland it is still the whisky for me. I've now got a diagram with coordinates that help me understand more what I am going to get as I go through the whisky list.

Upon settling our bill, I asked the bartender if there were any Shinty games going on. He did not know but a gentleman at the bar overheard and joined the conversation. First, I missed the last Shinty match by about two weeks, pity. But, he did stay around for about 20 minutes talking to us about the sport. Along the way he made referrals to baseball and called soccer ... soccer. He said he was being respectful of his American friends. In the end, he was all about shinty. He loved the sport, talked about the blood. (It is OK if you draw blood on your opponent as long as you held your caman (shinty stick) correctly. If you break a leg then your team goes on playing short one man ... you know ... until you splint-up and get back in. The words "brutality" and "man-up" were repeated more than once. I asked if he could compare shinty to American Football. His response, "Men play Shinty". He then looked at us and made a statement in the form of a question. "They wear pads and helmets don't they?" and then just slowly shook his head. This guy was a lot of fun, another good reason to drink an occasional wee dram of whisky.